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Course Details

Muslims and the Qur'an

A broad-ranging introduction to pre-modern, modern, and contemporary Islam in light of how Muslims have approached their foundational religious text, the Qur'an. Topics include: Muhammad and the emergence of Islam; theology, law and ethics; war and peace; mysticism; women and gender; and modern debates on Islamic reform. We shall examine the varied contexts in which Muslims have interpreted their sacred text, their agreements and disagreements on what it means and, more broadly, their often competing understandings of Islam and of what it is to be a Muslim.

Sample reading list:M. Abdel-Haleem,
The Qur'an: A New TranslationJonathan Berkey,
The Formation of IslamFazlur Rahman,
Major Themes of the Qur'anBernard Weiss,
The Spirit of Islamic LawAttar,
Conference of the BirdsKecia Ali,
Sexual Ethics in Islam

Reading/Writing assignments:
Reading: About 80 pages per week. Writing: Two take-home exams: the first at mid-semester, the second at the end of the semester.